What good are economists?

Bob Shiller gives a nice answer.

Leave the laptop in your dorm

I have long been skeptical about students using laptops in class to take notes. I had the sense that their brains were less engaged and that they were acting more like stenographers than students.  But I was not entirely sure my hunch was right. 

According to research described in this article, it was.

News from Amazon

Here are a few screen shots taken from Amazon today.

To users of my favorite textbooks: Thank you!  Have a great semester.

The New Economics of the Left

According to this article, some members of the Democratic party are moving from mainstream to heterodox economic theory. If Bernie Sanders runs for the Democratic presidential nomination, as now appears likely, this development should keep things entertaining for us econonerds.

Jeff Sachs on Paul Krugman

Here.

An Odd Question

Those who attended either of the sessions I was involved with at the ASSA meeting know that the audience included some hecklers.  During the first session, I was the target. During the second, Larry Summers was. (At one point, the moderator Bob Hall threatened to call security.)  Here is a Washington Post article about the hecklers.

After the first session was over, one of the hecklers came up to me and asked, "How much money have the Koch brothers paid you?"  My answer, of course, was "not a penny."

I don't find it odd that people disagree with me. I am always open to the possibility that I am wrong about lots of things, and I much enjoy talking with students and colleagues who have views different from mine. But I do find it odd that people who disagree with me are sometimes quick to question my sincerity. If I am wrong, it is sincere wrong-headedness, not the result of being on some plutocrat's payroll, as some on the left want to believe.

The hecklers probably limit their own effectiveness by questioning the motives of those who disagree with them. I have found that to convince other people, it is usually best not to assume your own moral superiority but rather to talk with them as equals who just happen to have a different point of view.

Me at the ASSA Meeting

I have a busy few days at the upcoming ASSA meeting in Boston.  For those interested, I will be involved in the following public events:

Jan 03, 2015 8:00 am, Sheraton Boston, Independence Ballroom
American Economic Association

A Discussion of Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the 21st Century" (D3)

 

Presiding: N. Gregory Mankiw (Harvard University)

 

Capital and Wealth in the 21st Century

David N. Weil (Brown University)

[Download Preview]

TBD

 

Capital Taxation in the 21st Century

Alan J. Auerbach (University of California-Berkeley)

Kevin Hassett (American Enterprise Institute)

[Download Preview]

TBD

 

Yes, r>g. So what?

N. Gregory Mankiw (Harvard University)

[Download Preview]

Piketty argues that r>g is the “the central contradiction of capitalism” and that it will lead to an “endless inegalitarian spiral.” As a result, he argues for a new global tax on capital. In this brief essay, I explain why I am not persuaded by either his prediction or his prescription.

 

About Capital in the 21st century

Thomas Piketty (Paris School of Economics)

[Download Preview]

TBD

Jan 03, 2015 2:30 pm, Sheraton Boston, Independence Ballroom
American Economic Association

The Economics of Secular Stagnation (A1)

 

Presiding: Robert E. Hall (Stanford University)

 

Secular Stagnation: A Supply Side View

Robert Gordon (Northwestern University)

TBD

 

Secular Stagnation: A Demand Side View

Lawrence H. Summers (Harvard University)

TBD

 

Does History Lend Any Support to the Secular Stagnation Hypothesis?

Barry Eichengreen (University of California-Berkeley)

[Download Preview]

TBD

 

Discussants:

Robert E. Hall (Stanford University)

William Nordhaus (Yale University)

N. Gregory Mankiw (Harvard University)